That’s how things ended

“I STILL LOVE FOOTBALL, TO AND NO ONE IS GOING FROM TAKE MY DRIVE AWAY COME ME, WHETHER YOU YOU HAVE FROM EUROPE OR THE HIGHEST QUALIFICATION IN FOOTBALL.”

It’s been a difficult few months for Xola Mlambo, who is still without a club after having to fight his way out of TS Galaxy. The talented midfielder has had to make do without employment and a salary, but remains hopeful that there is still a place for him in the Premier Soccer League, having previously done well for the clubs he has played for. At 32, Mlambo still has a lot to offer the Beautiful Game and it’s all about him getting an opportunity to showcase his talent on the big stage. Soccer Laduma’s Tshepang Mailwane got hold of the former Orlando Pirates and Bidvest Wits midfielder to talk about why he is still without a club and the difficulty he faced in getting his clearance from Galaxy. He also talks about still waiting for his settlement from the club.

Tshepang Mailwane: Hola Xola, thanks for your time. Where have you been and how has life been in general for you?

Xola Mlambo:

Very interesting question. I’ve been surviving. I am still alive. I’ve been training and keeping fit with Bidvest Wits (ABC Motsepe League). I have to be grateful for how they have received me and how they are willing to help me to stay fit. I’ve been working with a friend of mine who is a fitness trainer. That’s basically it. Life is life, man. I don’t think there is anyone who would come and say life is awesome or life is bad. Life has its ups and downs, and there are blessings in all of the tragedies. In all honesty, I am at peace. I am in a place where I never thought I would be, but I am happy. That’s all that matters.

TM: Please describe what you mean when you say ‘I’ve been surviving’…

XM:

Once you are able to wake up every day, without a salary that you are used to…and you can still wake up and still be you, that’s surviving. I am living and I am grateful. I am in a survival state where I can say I appreciate how I am surviving with this day-to-day tragedy that I have been dealing with for the past eight months.

TM: What’s the tragedy? XM:

The tragedy I am dealing with is that I stayed for quite some time with people keeping my clearance and they came with their own claims, to say they kept the clearance because they did not terminate my contract, but they know very well that they terminated my contract and did not want to pay me out and opted to keep my clearance. It’s just a saddening story that footballers sometimes have to go through. How can you terminate someone’s contract and claim as if you did not? Only for your own reasoning and own agendas, which we don’t know what they are. God has His own way of revealing and dealing with such things. That’s the tragedy I am dealing with and that led to me not being able to look for a team. It’s very difficult in the football industry. We’ve experienced and seen so many stories that are happening in football, which we don’t have to mention in name. Unfortunately, I was part of the people who were involved in the voicenote that was leaked, where I was

trying to speak to the guys about the situation they were dealing with. Other players were not paid for almost three months, (as well as) staff members. It was sad for me to see adults in tears. Maybe I did not know at that point, but it was probably God preparing me to say ‘speak your truth and it will define the type of person you are’. If you listen to the voicenote that was trending, I literally said ‘we need to unite in times of difficulty’ because I could not be going to work with my stomach full and my fridge being full, while I know that my colleague has not been receiving a salary for the past three to four months. So, I was saying we need to help and lift each other as best as we can. Little did I know that a few months later I would experience the same situation. It can happen to anyone at the end of the day, but I am glad my character never changed.

TM: Let’s give this club a name. Which club are you talking about?

XM: I don’t like speaking about them. It’s okay, everyone knows that I was at TS Galaxy. I don’t like to speak about them. It’s water under the bridge. I guess it was a learning experience.

TM: Talk to us about the process of getting your clearance and what’s the latest on your clearance?

XM: I only received my clearance in our first sitting because I had to apply for a condonation for the chamber to hear and listen to my story, because we applied later. They (Galaxy) were taking me back and forth in the settlement agreement that they wanted to give me. That ended up with us getting to the (PSL) DRC (Dispute Resolution Chamber), because a person would then come to you and say ‘I have a game in Durban this week, but you and I go way back and we can definitely sort this thing out’. You give a person the benefit of the doubt and then you say ‘no problem chairman, it’s okay’. He makes promises. After those games, the window has closed, and the person is nowhere to be found. You can’t even reach the person over the phone like he had promised. People can give you their word and then turn around and say something else, but we move. I only received my clearance towards the end of November, if I remember correctly. But when you receive your clearance towards the end of November, you have to understand that there is nothing you can do with it because the window is closed. When the window opens, it’s not going to be easy to find employment because of how things have been happening and being inactive. The settlement has not yet been finalised. We are awaiting the DRC to come up with a conclusion because they (Galaxy) are making their own things to protect themselves.

TM: But Xola, how did the situation between you and Galaxy get so sour?

XM:

In my own analogy, when I look at the situation, it started towards the end of last season. We were 1-0 down against Sekhukhune United, if I am not mistaken. A coach put in a player that did not even train the entire week, but he travelled with the team. It’s no problem because coaches make their own decisions. We did not question that as a team. He made it into the team, so as an individual you ask yourself what’s the criteria that warrants a player to make it into the travelling team without even training. But people have their own explanations as coaches, and you can’t question that. You can’t say ‘why is so and so travelling but he never trained?’ You will look as though you are a rebel and that’s not the person you are. But it became difficult when we were trailing 1-0 in the second half against Sekhukhune and they subbed him in. The person could not even run. I remember the game like it was yesterday. He was put in and I thought I was doing the team a better gesture when I said to the coach ‘we are 1-0 down and one man down because the person you just put in can’t even run. Can you please sub him’. I think maybe that was my mistake, because that’s how I saw it. I wanted points. I did not want us to lose unnecessarily. I think that’s where the first problem started.

TM: Go on… XM:

Maybe I addressed it wrong. Maybe I should have just left it and not tried to help the coach to make decisions. But we were feeling the suffering inside the field of play. After they took him off, we managed to equalize. We went back to Jozi and we trained perfectly during the week. And then the last training session we had in Joburg, before our next game, we had a recovery training session. We were playing football tennis. Playing football tennis is nice. When you win, you move into a certain grid. When you win, you stay in that grid. Those are the rules, to say this is Champions League, this is PSL and this is NFD. When you lose, you get demoted down. When you win, you get to keep your position. We found ourselves playing against a team of coaches. We won and then remarks were being thrown at the people who were appointed as referees. But, we kept quiet. We lost that game because they were cheating. We moved down (the grid). We came back to the same grid after winning and we played against the same coaches. Then they do the same thing. They cheat and send remarks to the referee. I am human and sometimes I am going to lose it. Then I was like ‘I can’t take this game’. It’s not nice when you are always being cheated, so I just walked on the side and I watched the guys. The training session continued and Tim (Sukazi) was there that day. Nothing was said, but at the end of the day I was taken out of the team. So, I think it was because of those situations because I am experienced enough to notice certain things when they happen. They said the people who are not in the travelling team have to train with the DDC team. So, I trained with the DDC team. I trained with coach Ashley Makhanya and I enjoyed it.

TM: What happened afterwards? XM:

The team played against Chippa and won. Then I received a call from the team manager to say ‘dude, coach says you should not be part of the team anymore’. I said no problem. I was never told why he said that and why I was being excluded. No one bothered to explain. They arranged with coach Phuphu (Mohlaba), who is now at Sundowns. I trained with him and then (I) got sick and went to see a doctor. I notified him and the manager as well. I was excluded like that from the team. That’s when I was told that the relationship between me and the coach is ruined, so they are terminating. That’s how things ended for me at TS Galaxy. It’s unfortunate because, during pre-season, I could have gone to look for employment, but I did not have my clearance because they were going back and forth with giving me a settlement and there were still outstanding monies that they owed me from the previous season. But I am hopeful. I still love football, and no one is going to take my drive away from me, whether you come from Europe or you have the highest qualification in football. I played football from the dusty streets of Soweto, so I still love it.

TM: We wish we had more time with you, Xola. But thank you for your time and being so open.

XM: Thank you for the opportunity. ❐